• Not afraid to speak his mind, he endured a fractious partnership with Sébastien Loeb at Citroën

• Squeezed out by Citroën, he took a year out of top-flight rallying in 2012 to help Volkswagen develop its WRC Polo

• He is the undoubted successor to Loeb’s throne, but he does not like to be compared to his former rival

The story so far

A versatile sportsman, Ogier was a ski instructor and professional boules player before he embarked on a rallying career at the age of 22.

Ogier’s path to success mirrored that of nine-time champion Sébastien Loeb: both made their mark in two-wheel-drive, 1600cc Citroëns before stepping up to the big league with the French manufacturer.

Ogier stormed to the FIA Junior World Rally Championship crown in 2008 and a six-round WRC programme with the Citroën Junior Team followed a year later. Despite a succession of accidents, Citroën chiefs stuck by their man and Ogier took victories in Portugal and Japan in 2010.

A place in the main Citroën team was Ogier’s reward for 2011, and he took the fight to team-mate Loeb by winning three rounds early on. However, when he was instructed not to challenge Loeb for the lead in Germany, Ogier reluctantly accepted his new supporting role in the team.

He decided to make a clean break in 2012, joining the new Volkswagen squad. It was a move that paid off. At the conclusion of the 2013 season, Ogier was crowned as the new World Rally Champion after taking nine rally wins and smashing the team’s modest expectations at the same time.